Two-time Emmy Award-nominated UNDERCOVER BOSS returns with its third season premiere on Sunday, Jan. 15 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT). Each week, UNDERCOVER BOSS follows a different executive as they leave the comfort of their corner office for an undercover mission to examine the inner workings of their companies.

The eight-time Emmy Award-winning THE AMAZING RACE will also return at mid-season with a premiere that will be announced at a later date.

Although I am not a ratings expert, the final 2 episodes of an Amazing Race season are not likely to have an audience different from the prior 9 or 10 legs. I think mid-season will mean a start date sometime in March for AR20 and finish late in June. This is 2 to 6 weeks after the "normal" start date but it still spans the entirety of the May "sweeps" period.

I think TAR20 will still get its normal late-Feb/March-May airing schedule. Possibly 2-hour finale with one Sunday off for the Academy of Country Music Awards.

The Survivor finale could take place on Sunday, May 20 (last Sunday of the traditional season), so TAR's finale would be May 13 and working backwards, TAR could premiere Sunday, March 4th, the week after the Oscars.

I think TAR20 will still get its normal late-Feb/March-May airing schedule. Possibly 2-hour finale with one Sunday off for the Academy of Country Music Awards.

The Survivor finale could take place on Sunday, May 20 (last Sunday of the traditional season), so TAR's finale would be May 13 and working backwards, TAR could premiere Sunday, March 4th, the week after the Oscars.

I mostly agree with dryedmangoez. It has to begin by March 4 in order for it to finish before the Memorial Day weekend at the end of May. It could begin one week earlier, Feb. 26. Either Sunday conforms to my definition of mid-season, based on the first week in January to the last full week in May. The technical Sunday midpoint of that period is a tie between March 10 and March 17.

I think TAR20 will still get its normal late-Feb/March-May airing schedule. Possibly 2-hour finale with one Sunday off for the Academy of Country Music Awards.

The Survivor finale could take place on Sunday, May 20 (last Sunday of the traditional season), so TAR's finale would be May 13 and working backwards, TAR could premiere Sunday, March 4th, the week after the Oscars.

I mostly agree with dryedmangoez. It has to begin by March 4 in order for it to finish before the Memorial Day weekend at the end of May. It could begin one week earlier, Feb. 26. Either Sunday conforms to my definition of mid-season, based on the first week in January to the last full week in May. The technical Sunday midpoint of that period is a tie between March 10 and March 17.

It will start the week after the Grammy's. The Grammy's are on Feb. 12th, TAR will start Feb. 19th, you can book it now. They have gone against the Oscars multiple times through the years. If you look at Wiki, this has been the spring premiere date for a while going back through the years.

The uncertainty comes from the placement of Undercover Boss in TAR's time slot in January; we don't know how large the episode order is for that show this season, and we don't know what CBS plans to do with scheduling as between TAR, UB and The Good Wife. My guess has been that TGW may get moved away from Sundays as its audience and TAR's audience appears to be widely different; there is an outside chance that CSI:Miami might get moved if CBS decides that this current (10th) season will be that show's last. With four shows to work with for the three hours, something has got to give for TAR to start in late February/beginning of Match, so as to finish in mid-May.

I agree with you, the schnauzers, on the importance of the series order for Undercover Boss episodes. Here is the data on the first 2 seasons, which gives no clue on how long the run for season 3 might be):

A 22 episode season would be ludicrous, so I expect 9 episodes or less. I have read about one episode showing Jan. 29 (Kendall Jackson winery), so we know it will be at least 3 episodes. A full 9 Undercover Boss episodes would put the Amazing Race start on March 18 and the finish of a only-one-hour-legs 12 week season on June 3.

Rather than air repeats in January/early February against the other new programming, CBS has chosen to use Undercover Boss for three of those weeks before moving it to a time slot on Fridays. CSI:NY takes a short hiatus in February-March before returning. I can't remember what shows CBS is vacating on Friday nights, but its clear they view Undercover Boss as an improvement for ratings on that night.

Like I discussed a few days back CBS had to be planning to move something and it was unclear which of Undercover Boss or The Good Wife was likely to be moved. Now we know.